The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Challenges for Regional Ecosystem Management

An adaptive management approach is necessary but not sufficient to address the long-term challenges of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). Adaptive management, in turn, has its own particular challenges, of which we focus on two: science input, and stakeholder engagement. In order to frame our discussion and subsequent recommendations, we place the current management difficulties into their historical context, with special emphasis on the 1990 Vision document, which attempted a broad synthesis of management goals for the ecosystem. After examining these two key challenges in the context of the GYE, we make several recommendations that would allow for more effective ecosystem management in the long term. First, we recommend adoption of the GYE as a site for long-term science research and monitoring with an emphasis on integrative research, long-term federal funding, and public dissemination of data. Second, we conclude that a clearer prioritization of legislative mandates would allow for more flexible ecosystem management in the GYE, a region where conflicting mandates have historically led to litigation antithetical to effective ecosystem management. Finally, we recommend a renewed attempt at an updated Vision for the Future that engages stakeholders (including local landholders) substantively from the outset.     

A Method for Setting the Size of Plant Conservation Target Areas

Abstract: Realistic time frames in which management decisions are made often preclude the completion of the detailed analyses necessary for conservation planning. Under these circumstances, efficient alternatives may assist in approximating the results of more thorough studies that require extensive resources and time. We outline a set of concepts and formulas that may be used in lieu of detailed population viability analyses and habitat modeling exercises to estimate the protected areas required to provide desirable conservation outcomes for a suite of threatened plant species. We used expert judgment of parameters and assessment of a population size that results in a specified quasiextinction risk based on simple dynamic models. The area required to support a population of this size is adjusted to take into account deterministic and stochastic human influences, including small-scale disturbance, deterministic trends such as habitat loss, and changes in population density through processes such as predation and competition. We set targets for different disturbance regimes and geographic regions. We applied our methods to Banksia cuneata, Boronia keysii, and Parsonsia dorrigoensis, resulting in target areas for conservation of 1102, 733, and 1084 ha, respectively. These results provide guidance on target areas and priorities for conservation strategies.     

Pollution,habitat loss,fishing, and climate change as critical threats to penguins

Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means to mitigate these threats. Our review has relevance to other taxonomic groups in the southern hemisphere and in northern latitudes, where human impacts are greater. Our review was based on an expert assessment and literature review of all 18 penguin species; 49 scientists contributed to the process. For each penguin species, we considered their range and distribution, population trends, and main anthropogenic threats over the past approximately 250 years. These threats were harvesting adults for oil, skin, and feathers and as bait for crab and rock lobster fisheries; harvesting of eggs; terrestrial habitat degradation; marine pollution; fisheries bycatch and resource competition; environmental variability and climate change; and toxic algal poisoning and disease. Habitat loss, pollution, and fishing, all factors humans can readily mitigate, remain the primary threats for penguin species. Their future resilience to further climate change impacts will almost certainly depend on addressing current threats to existing habitat degradation on land and at sea. We suggest protection of breeding habitat, linked to the designation of appropriately scaled marine reserves, including in the High Seas, will be critical for the future conservation of penguins. However, large‐scale conservation zones are not always practical or politically feasible and other ecosystem‐based management methods that include spatial zoning, bycatch mitigation, and robust harvest control must be developed to maintain marine biodiversity and ensure that ecosystem functioning is maintained across a variety of scales. Contaminación, Pérdida de Hábitat, Pesca y Cambio Climático como Amenazas Críticas para los Pingüinos     

Challenges of diverse knowledge systems in landscape analysis of the Murray–Darling Basin,Australia

Regional Environmental Change - Geographic information systems are a means to develop a common framework for the integration of a range of perspectives into natural resources management decisions....     

EVALUATION OF BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR CONTROLLING NONPOINT POLLUTION FROM SILVICULTURAL OPERATIONS1

ABSTRACT: Fifteen years of streamflow and water quality data were evaluated to determine the effectiveness of Best Management Practices (BMP's) in controlling nonpoint source pollution from an 110. acre commercial clearcut located in the Ridge and Valley Province of central Pennsylvania. The analyses addressed both short- and long-term changes in the physical and chemical properties and the hydro-logic regime of the stream draining this 257-acre watershed. Overall, the BMP's employed on this commercial clearcut were very effective in preventing serious deterioration of stream quality as a result of forest harvesting. Although statistically significant increases in nitrate and potassium concentrations and temperature and turbidity levels were measured the first two years following harvesting, the increases were relatively small and, with the exception of turbidity, within drinking water standards. Nevertheless, such increases may violate EPA's anti-degradation policy. Nitrate and potassium concentrations and turbidity levels remained above pre-harvesting levels for as long as nine years following harvesting. Clearcutting also significantly increased water yield, which in turn initially lowered the concentrations of most solutes because of dilution. Increased water yields returned to pro-harvesting levels within four years as a result of rapid regrowth. The export of some ions increased; however, the increased export appeared to be insufficient to affect site fertility. Implementation of periodic post-harvest inspections of harvested areas, increasing the width of the buffer zone, and utilizing buffer zones on all perennial and intermittent channels would reduce further impacts of silvi-cultural activities on water quality.     

Confined placental mosaicism in CVS and pregnancy outcome

The perinatal outcome of 26 patients with confined placental mosaicism (CPM) detected in chorionic villus sampling (CVS) who wished to continue their pregnancies was compared with that of two controls per patient matched for age and parity (n=52). There were no significant differences in birth weight or gestational age at delivery between patients with CPM and controls. There were no cases of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) in the CPM patients as compared with two (2/52, 3·8 per cent) in the control group (P>0·05). There was no significant increase in fetal loss between the study group (1/26, 3·6 per cent) and the controls (1/52, 1·9 per cent) (P>0·05).     

Cardenolide content,emetic potency,and thin-layer chromatography profiles of monarch butterflies,Danaus plexippus,and their larval host-plant milkweed,Asclepias humistrata,in Florida

Summary This paper is the fourth in a series on cardenolide fingerprints of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus, Danainae) and their host-plant milkweeds (Asclepiadaceae) in the eastern United States. Cardenolide concentrations ofAsclepias humistrata plants from north central Florida ranged from 71 to 710 µg/0.1 g dry weight, with a mean of 417 µg/0.1 g. Monarchs reared individually on these plants contained cardenolide concentrations ranging from 243 to 575 µg/0.1 g dry weight, with a mean of 385 µg/0.1 g. Cardenolide uptake by butterflies was independent of plant concentration, suggesting that sequestration saturation occurs in monarchs fed cardenolide-rich host plants. Thinlayer chromatography resolved 19 cardenolides in the plants and 15 in the butterflies. In addition to humistratin,A. humistrata plants contained several relatively non-polar cardenolides of the calotropagenin series which are metabolized to more polar derivatives in the butterflies. These produced a butterfly cardenolide fingerprint clearly distinct from those previously established for monarchs reared on otherAsclepias species. In emetic assays with the blue jay,Cyanocitta cristata, the 50% emetic dose (ED₅₀) per jay was 57.1 µg, and the average number of ED₅₀ units per butterfly was 13.8, establishing that this important south eastern milkweed produces highly emetic, chemically defended monarchs. Our data provide further support for the use of cardenolide fingerprints of wild-caught monarchs to make ecological predictions concerning defence against natural enemies, seasonal movement and larval host-plant utilization by monarch butterflies during their annual cycle of migration, breeding and overwintering.     

肉类加工厂的环境实践：新西兰经验

评论了新西兰肉类加工业的演变,尤其与环境影响有关的演变.尽管在废物削减、副产物回收和加工方面取得很大进展,但肉类加工继续产生大量废物.因此,有颇多的废物削减机会存在.与环境有关的程序和标准,受到国际上对成本-有效性的需要、国家法规以及进口国法规达标的需要、和各种各样商业质量要求影响.按照新法规,要求新西兰肉类加工者编制并实施风险管理计划.     

The Usefulness of a Threat and Disturbance Categorization Developed for Queensland Wetlands to Environmental Management,Monitoring, and Evaluation

There is no comprehensive system of describing threats and disturbances currently used in Australia, despite the widespread impacts of human activities on natural ecosystems. Yet a detailed categorization would facilitate the collation of threatening process information into information systems; enable standardized collection and availability of data; and enable comparative analyses of ecosystem condition between stakeholders, agencies, states, and nations, particularly for environmental reporting and evaluation mechanisms such as State of the Environment. As part of the Queensland Wetlands Programme (QWP), a threat and disturbance framework was developed, focused on the pressure and impacts components of the DPSIR (driver-pressure-state-impacts-response) framework. A wetland inventory database was developed also that included a detailed threat and disturbance categorization using the QWP framework. The categorization encompasses a broad range of anthropogenic and natural processes, and is hierarchical to accommodate varying levels of detail or knowledge. By incorporating detailed qualitative and quantitative information, a comprehensive threats and disturbances categorization can contribute to conceptual or spatially explicit knowledge and management assessments. The application of the framework and categorization to several threatening processes is demonstrated, and its relationship to current natural resource condition indicators is discussed. Threat evaluation is an essential component of ecological assessment and environmental management, and a standardized categorization enables consistency in attributing processes, impacts and their short- to long-term consequences. Such a systematic framework and categorization demonstrates the importance and usefulness of comprehensive approaches, and this approach can be readily adapted to management, monitoring and evaluation of other target ecosystems and biota.     

Host-plant-mediated competition via induced resistance: interactions between pest herbivores on potatoes.

Plant-mediated competition among insect herbivores occurs when one species induces changes in plant chemistry, nutrition, or morphology that render plants resistant to attack by others. We explored plant-mediated interspecific interactions between the potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae) and the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata), two important pests on potatoes. Leafhoppers colonize fields in advance of beetles, and thus the possibility exists that previous feeding by leafhoppers induces changes in potato plants that have adverse consequences for beetles. The consequences of leafhopper-induced resistance for beetle performance were studied in the greenhouse, field cages, and in large open-field plots. Potato plants were exposed to four densities of leafhoppers (none, low, moderate, and high), and visible feeding symptoms were measured as percentage leaf curling, chlorosis, and necrosis. The oviposition preference, performance, and survivorship of Colorado potato beetles were then measured on the four categories of induced plants in field-cage and greenhouse settings. In open field plots, survival on the four categories of induced plants was determined by placing cohorts of beetle adults onto plants and measuring the densities of resulting eggs, larvae, and emerging Fl adults. Leafhopper-induced symptoms on potato plants were density dependent, with the percentage of curled, chlorotic, and necrotic leaves increasing with leafhopper density. Previous feeding by leafhoppers adversely affected oviposition and larval performance of beetles. Fewer egg masses were deposited on plants that incurred high levels of leafhopper feeding. Similarly, larval development was delayed and emerging adult beetles weighed less when fed induced foliage from the high leafhopper-density treatment. Beetles survived less well in the field on plants experiencing moderate and high levels of leafhopper feeding as evidenced by lower densities of eggs, larvae, and emerging F1 adults. Overall, leafhoppers and beetles competed through feeding-induced changes in plant quality. Notably, the asymmetric interaction took place at a large spatial scale in open field plots and had negative consequences that persisted to the next beetle generation. Ultimately, to establish an effective management strategy for crop pests such as leafhoppers, it is essential to consider the positive indirect effects of induced resistance along with the negative direct effects on crop yield.